TradeStation profit doubles as trading rises

GregMorcroft

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Electronic securities broker TradeStation said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profit doubled as both revenue and trading volume strengthened from year-ago levels.

The company
TRA, +0.00%
said it earned $7.3 million, or 16 cents a share in the quarter on revenue of $27.3 million. A year ago, the company earned $3.6 million, or 8 cents a share on revenue of $20.2 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had, on average, expected the company to earn 13 cents a share.

The company said its pre-tax margin increased to 38% in the 2005 fourth quarter, as compared to a pre-tax margin of 28% in the 2004 fourth quarter.

Daily average revenue trades rose 40% to 48,767 from 34,728.

"We attribute our year-over-year growth in DARTs to consistent account growth, the robustness of our high-end client base and the diversity of our service offering," David Fleischman, TradeStation CFO said in a press release.

The firm also gave estimates for its first quarter and full year 2006 results.

It projects earnings per share of 13 cents to 15 cents and revenue of $28 to $30 million in the first quarter. For the full year, it expects to earn 54 cents to 65 cents a share, on revenue of $119 million to $130 million.

Currently, analysts polled by First Call expect the company to earn 13 cents in the first quarter, and 59 cents for the full year.

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